Welcome to the AC Tropical Fish aquarium forum. Our aquarium forum is the place to discuss any aquarium related issue in a friendly environment. Our aquarium forum welcomes aquarists of all levels from beginners to experts. Please ask a question in the how to section of our forum or read the FAQ section if you have any questions. register to and become a part of our friendly aquarium forum community today.

Feeding the Clown Pleco

WOW, there is a lot of information and misinformation out there on this subject.

The majority of information out there points to Clown Plecos as being wood eaters. (though there are some resources which oppose that too)

I have drift wood in the tank, and I am pretty sure its Mopani. Whereas some folks say this wood is great for the Clown Pleco, others say its too hard for them to chew, and it is pretty dense hard wood. Does anyone hear know of other types of wood that would be ideal for the Clown Pleco to graze on? I heard that Beech, Birch, Apple, and Cherry are some good choices.

If I do find some of these woods, how should I prepare them. I assume I want dead wood, but how long should it be dead for if I choose to cut a branch. I know to boil and soak, but should I remove all the bark as well?

When I had a clown pleco, with only mopani wood in the tank. He made the grooves distinctly larger and deeper. Later on I put in malaysian driftwood (common in the fish store) and did see him going up and down the wood.

I only saw the bugger maybe once every few months, and I have no idea what he ate for the 8 years that I had him, but he was fat. I don't even know if he even got to the algae wafers in the tank. I did not put veggies in the tank just a couple of wafers. There was also a common 11" pleco in the tank (21 years old), so he ate something.

The pleco is not spending the amount of time on the drift wood that I would have liked. He spent about 24 hours checking it out and eating some of it, but ended up going back to his favorite ornament to hide inside of.

I had zero success with putting Omega 1 Veggies rounds and fresh cucumber next to the drift wood. However, I left a large slice of cucumber suspended about an inch above the substrate right next to his favorite ornament hiding spot. This morning he was hanging out on the underside of the cucumber and, when I removed it from the tank, there was 15-20 small scoop-like bite taken out of it.

I also have a clown pleco with mopani wood. Be going on over two years now and he is doing well. I have been feeding different veggies for him as well as cutting small slits in the veggies and sticking algae waffers deep inside of the veggies so he has to eat his way to the good stuff.

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

Ever since the clown pleco got some cucumber in him, he has been more active. I am still dissapointed that he did not take to the driftwood as I had hoped, but he is consistently staying in one ornament.

He is still small, maybe 2" long, so I am not sure I would want to leave the cucumber with algae rounds inside in the tank long enough for him to get that much. If i put the veggie rounds in his hiding spot at the right time of day, he comes right down to snack for a few minutes then goes back home :)